Sundays, Sheds and Sowing!

With drizzle falling from the skies, I donned some old gardening clothes, made a fresh mug of tea and ventured into the garden with a steely determination: it's that time of year when every gardener has to tackle the shed!

Sometime back in October, I packed up all of the old flowerpots, put the barbecue away and shut the shed up over what has been a very long and cold winter.  However, spring has arrived in many parts of England and although the Peak District (current home of the 'London' Vegetable Garden) remains under grey skies and odd showers, it has started to get warmer in the garden.

This weekend provided the perfect opportunity to get out there, have a good sort out and turn the shed from a 'storage' building back into the living, working potting shed of the London Vegetable Garden!  The garden also took a lot of sweeping, having collected a lot of leaves and organic debris over the winter months:

 

As we prepare for a summer of vegetable growing in the garden, here's two photographs showing the garden space that I have to work with:

As you can see, the decking area at the foreground of the picture allows for plenty of pots and containers, as does the paved area at the bottom of the garden.  The bed of soil on the left of the pictures is cleared for vegetable growing, however I found last year that this patch was quite shaded and often very damp: I am currently researching the best vegetables and plants to grow in this shaded, damp vegetable patch.

Following the clear-out of the shed and the tidying up of the garden, I set about planting various vegetable seeds in trays.  These included proven staples such as tomatoes, cucumbers and runner beans, whilst sweet peppers, cauliflower and cabbages are all a first for the London Vegetable Garden!

 

In addition to the vegetable seeds, I also potted up some trailing lobelia, which my wife and I had purchased earlier in the morning from B&Q.  We bought 24 plants for £5, which I have potted into various different flower pots and containers at both the front and the back of our cottage.  I can't wait until they start to bloom and bring great swathes of colour to our windowsills and patio!

So that was a very eventful Sunday in the garden, but one that ultimately indicates that the vegetable garden is very much up and running for summer 2013 – let's hope it's a productive one!

Look out for my next blog post on Wednesday, when I'll be discussing how to maximise your window areas to create DIY greenhouses for your vegetable seeds!  Until then, come and say hello on Twitter, @londonveggarden, or come and join the community of like-minded urban gardeners on Facebook!